Saying Good Bye To Jim

Tonight, during our Football In Focus Show, Dennis White and Andy Durham talked about working with Jim Modlin over the past few years. Meantime, at the JV Football game, they had a moment of silence and lowered the flags.

It was just a year or two, Jim was deathly sick and in and out of the hospital for almost two years. We thought we had lost him, more than once. But he fought back. He wasn’t going to waste away in a hospital, it wasn’t the kind of guy he was. He got better and over a year ago was back working and having lost a bit of weight was in better shape than before. It took him a few months after being released from the hospital before he was going 100%; but, he was determined to be back as strong as before.

Dennis, Jim, Andy
Dennis White, Jim Modlin and Andy Durham broadcasting a high school basketball game earlier this year.

This year, Jim was back. He was in the booth on Fridays at the Grasshopper games. He was working the phones and doing color analysis for high school basketball and football games with Andy Durham again. He had even gotten interested in the Internet to reconnect with old friends. We were working on a website for him to share much of his sports souvenirs with the rest of the world.

Then, Monday night, he had a massive heart attack. He hung on; but it wasn’t to be. Jim was the kind of guy you didn’t want to see in a hospital bed, he was bigger than that, he was stronger than that, he was better than that.

Sports Center Tribute Desk
A Memorial Display at the Membership Counter at the Battleground Location of the Sports Center Athletic Club, where Jim worked. Photo by Bryan Jones.

One thought on “Saying Good Bye To Jim

  1. This was basically Jim’s office. All kinds of framed posters are hung up inside from sports memorabilia to bands he liked. No activity in the office when I was there, though it was after 7 PM. Very hard to see Jim’s bin with completed membership forms that he put together for folks. There was also another memorial for Jim at the front desk when you enter. One of the pictures there was of Jim and Andy interviewing a player from Dudley basketball. Others were past portraits of a very very good looking big fella.

    Jason Davis, the GM at SportsCenter, had some comments in the paper that really tugged on you. Everybody there were just getting it done tonight…some training customers, others behind the desks or leading a class. Its been a really really tough day at SportsCenter for all the staff and even some of the customers. It was hard for me to workout there today at the start, but I got through, just like everyone else who loved Jim.

    What a man. I know I’ll miss him.

Comments are closed.